The role DNA may play in the severity level of a coronavirus infection

It’s been suggested that the reason coronavirus impacts people in vastly different ways is that it could be a matter of genetics, and now there’s a study to examine just that possibility.

“This came out of King’s College in London, where they study twins, and they actually have a database of 2,600 twins. What came out of this study is that genes are potentially 50% responsible for the presentation of key symptoms of the COVID-19 infection, including things like fever, fatigue, loss of taste and smell,” said Tacoma MD Dr. Gordon Cohen on Seattle’s Morning News.

What would remdesivir treatment look like and is it effective?

“What the results suggest is that some people are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection than others because of their genetic makeup.”

Does this imply that if you could identify which genes were responsible for coronavirus resistance, you could tell people ahead of time whether they were susceptible or not?

“I don’t think we’re there yet. … What it means is that the degree of symptoms may be genetically determined. Now we have to be careful when we say that because this is not the same as a genetic predisposition to the comorbid conditions that are associated with coronavirus death, things like Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, immune disorders, old age, etc.,” Cohen said.

Is herd immunity an effective tool against coronavirus?

“This is not the same as having the genetic predispositions of those diseases. Rather, all other things being equal, why is it that some people get severe symptoms and die while others are infected and barely even know that they have anything wrong? We don’t have the answer to this yet.”

While we’re not to this point yet, eventually a patient could, hypothetically, get some kind of diagnosis saying that they’re extra susceptible, regardless of any conditions they may be suffering from.

“The key thing about this right now isn’t just predicting who will get sick or not, but rather giving us clues to help us elucidate how we might create an effective treatment or vaccine.”

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